Learning By Doing
by Silver Witch
Summary: Letting you know, this is a 6th yr story as told by Harry and Ginny's older daughter (that story is told in "This is Why I Don't Drink") involving lies, fighting, love, and lots other stuff.
1. Wren Speaks Up

Disclaimer: I don't own nothing.

A/N: I got such a great response to the story "This is Why I Don't Drink" that I had to try my hand at a sequel. The sequel will be in diary format, kind of. I'm sure you have all learned by now that I don't do anything the normal way.

Learning By Doing 

Chapter One: Wren Speaks Out

Harry Potter is the greatest legend in all of wizard history. He studied under Albus Dumbledore and was hand chosen to take his place after the older man retired and began to travel the world. Harry defeated the most powerful dark wizard ever, and when Voldemort resurrected himself, Harry defeated him permanently. He's awesome.

He's my dad.

"Wren! We've got fifteen minutes before we head to the station!" Mum called up the stairs. "If you aren't packed, I'll pack you myself!"

Mum always packs my trunk. I don't know why she even asks me. She knows I'm going to ignore her until she comes and does it herself. My brothers, morons that they are, were probably packed three days ago. JJ and Sy spend too much time trying to be the children that every parent dreams of. We're fifteen now, going into our fifth year at Hogwarts. Dad always goes early to get things set up. Mum goes with us, and helps Madame Pomfrey in the hospital wing. My younger siblings are now all in Hogwarts also. Ced and Remi are in their fourth year and the youngest two; Pol and Pru were starting just this year. Pru's my only sister, which means we're outnumbered, but it's still better than Mum's childhood. She was the youngest of seven and the _only_ girl. I'm at least second oldest of seven, though only by three minutes.

"Wren?" Pru asked, coming into my room with a quick glance over her shoulder. "Do I look all right?"

I looked at my sister and bit back a laugh. She herself looked the same as always, curly black hair and big velvety brown eyes behind round glasses and a faint spray of freckles on her nose and cheeks. Her clothes looked like Pol had dressed her, and he has notoriously bad taste.

"No. You look awful, why do you let Pol pick out your clothes?" I answered honestly.

Tears pooled in her eyes. "It makes him happy. But I don't want to be laughed at on my first day!"

I headed to Pru's room to dig through her trunk (which she had packed a month ago) to find anything else.

I know I come across as heartless, but when you're the older daughter of Harry Potter and you look just like your mother you have to do something to discourage people from harassing you. JJ, Sy, and Pol all looked just like Dad, Pru was and amalgamation of both our parents and Ced and Remi looked a lot like our uncles Fred and George. We were a strange little…. um, big family.

"Wren! You didn't even start packing! What are you doing?"

"I'm helping Pru get a better outfit. This one looks terrible on her."

We heard a long-suffering sigh from my room and just a moment later Mum came in and shook her head.

"I packed your room up again. I think you do that on purpose…and you've unpacked Pru!"

I had to smile. It was times like this I could see why everyone in our family told me I was just like Mum.

With a flick of her wand, Mum repacked Pru and shooed us out the door.

"Miss Val!" Mum called.

"Yes Ma'am?" our housekeeper Valerie replied leaning out of the kitchen as we headed down the stairs.

"Could you ask Dorna to get the trunks to the station. I believe I'll have my hands full getting the kids there."

"Not a problem. Do you want Levi to go with you?"

Mum thought for a moment. "It might be best, then he can bring the car back."

And so, we were all on our way to school.

_Dear Diary,_

_Here we are, fifteen and nothing to show for it. When Dad was fifteen he'd survived the Avada Kedavra, his crazy muggle relations, trials from all of the teachers (with help from Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron), a Voldemort-possessed professor, two Quidditch seasons, an evil diary, a huge basilisk, Dobby the house-elf, dementors, Death Eaters, Dolores Umbridge, the Tri-Wizard Contest, the Cruciatus, the Imperious, more death than I'll ever see, and Gilderoy Lockhart. All I've survived is my siblings. Why is it that nothing exciting ever happens to me? I want an adventure!_

This is the first chapter. I know it's short, but this is only the beginning!


	2. We're Here to Help

A/N: To answer a question from a reviewer: Harry and Ginny have 7 kids-James Janus (JJ) 15 boy, Winifred Lily (Wren) 15girl, Sirius Taggart (Sy) 15 boy, Cedric Arthur (Ced) 14 boy, Remus Rubeus (Remi) 14 boy, Apollo Liam (Pol) 11 boy, Prewett Emerald (Pru) 11 girl. Ron and Hermione have two children-Etta Laurie 15 girl, and Thomas Owen (Tommy) 11 boy. George and Katie also have two-George Jr. and Lee Jordan both 16 boys. Fred and Angelina have four- Fred Jr. 16 boy, twins Daniel Michael (Danny) and Donovan Mitchell both 15 boy, and finally Holt Garrison 14 boy. Percy and Penelope have the most next to Harry and Ginny, with five boys- Ivan Paul 19, Kale Everest 18, Bartimeus Howard (Bart) 17, Victor Dorian (Vic) 15, and Matthew Percival (Matt) 14. Charlie and Tonks have 3 kids-Charlie Jr. (CJ) 19 boy, and twins Benjamin Colin (Ben) and Christopher Brandon (Chris) 16 boy. Finally, Bill and Fleur have three boys-Louis March 18, Trenton Samuel (Trent) 17, and Roland Maximillion (Ro) 15. I leave this as a guide for future chapters.

_Dear Diary,_

_I am tired of being a Potter. My cousins Etta (the only girl in the family other than myself and Pru), and Ro are really my only friends. I'll turn sixteen in four months. Maybe then my life will become interesting. Dad's been having meetings all month, and Professor McGonagall has been taking his duties as Head of the school. Something weird is going on._

"Pat! Give it back or I'll break your neck!"

I sighed frustrated as Pol tried in vain to get his quill from 16-year-old Patrick Longbottom. Pat was kind of cute, but Pol was my brother.

"_Accio_ Quill!" I commanded. The pen flew to me.

Pat turned and stared at me in surprise. "A fifth year shouldn't be able to do _accio_."

"So?" I shrugged. Dad had tried to teach all of us as much as we wanted to know. I didn't see the point in bragging about it, but I did wonder what Pat would say if he knew I could produce a Patronus also.

David, Pat's younger (by one year) brother, was looking at the daily prophet with Etta and Ro. "He's just jealous because he can't get it right yet."

"Shut up, Davie," Pat growled.

I had the good sense to remain silent as I handed Pol his quill. The Fat Lady's portrait opened and Mum and Professor McGonagall entered.

"Are you sure, Minerva?" I heard Mum whisper.

"I need the following students to come with me," our Head of House announced resolutely. "Patrick Longbottom, David Longbottom, Etta Weasley, and Winifred Potter."

We went immediately, curious as to what was happening. Mum and the professor eerily quiet as they lead us to Dad's office. After the password was given, we were ushered in to find the former Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore holding a photograph, and my dad at the desk, holding his head in his hands.

"Dad, what's wrong?" I asked, stepping toward him. He looked up and gave a start of surprise.

"It's hard to believe…" he murmured.

Dumbledore stood. "I trust you're wondering why you are here. We have come into information that can lead to the downfall of Voldemort."

"Sir, no disrespect," David said pointedly, "but Voldemort's dead."

"And now we know why. A picture."

He handed the photograph to Pat and we pressed in to see. It was the four of us, trying on the sorting hat, wearing the same clothes we were wearing at that moment.

"How did you get this photograph?" Etta asked.

"You suggested I take it, Miss Weasley. Nearly twenty-two years ago."

We all stared at him incredulously.

"That's impossible!" I cried. "We weren't alive then."

"You were sent back in time, to help us learn something that helped in the final battle," Dad informed us. "I've been trying to find some other way of doing it. I didn't want you going back into the mess we were in at that point."

"Where's JJ and Sy, or Ro in the picture?" I wanted to know.

"They didn't go," Mum said quietly.

I stared at Etta, dumfounded. Pat was the one who finally broke the tension.

"How long were we in that time?"

Mum and Dad looked at each other.

"All year," Dumbledore answered.

"All year?" we all shouted.

"I can't be away from JJ and Sy for a year. What are you going to tell them?"

 "Nothing," Dumbledore said flatly. "You will return to this point exactly, only you will have aged in that year. You will go back to the state you are in now. Your minds will be the only thing that retains your experiences from the past."

We stared nervously at the floor.

"I have to take the O.W.L's twice?" David groaned.

We couldn't help it. The four of us started laughing. I guess our nerves were wound a little tight. It was a lot to take in. It was the adventure I had been looking for, and I wanted to do it, but at the same time I would miss my family.

"You don't have to do this," Mum said, taking my hands. "None of you."

"Actually, Aunt Ginny," Etta whispered. "I think we do. We have to help…or we may not have a life to return to."

The heaviness of that sentence weighed on us. Mum began to cry.

"Gin," Dad breathed, coming around the desk and holding her.

Thoughts were flowing in and out of my head. "What if they figure out who we are, doesn't that change things now?"

Mum sniffed. "Well, there are rules. You can't tell your father who you are. We didn't tell them who you really were until this year. Pat, David, your mum knows, and Hermione knows. I knew, but I had forgotten at one point. Of course, I was having triplets at that point, so I wasn't thinking clearly."

"You were a little strange then," Dad commented.

"As for teachers, only the Headmaster and I knew," Professor McGonagall, who had been silent until that point, told us. "You were sent back before the O.W.L's, Mr. Longbottom."

Pat's face set determinedly. "Let's go, then. If we don't, we might not be here."

Dumbledore smiled. "Mr.'s Longbottom, your last name will be Oliver. Miss Weasley, you will be Etta Freeman. And Miss Potter, you will be Wren Hatter."

"No," I said, thinking of my brothers and my sister. "I'll be Wren Emerald."

"Wren, you can't change things," Etta protested.

"She isn't. I knew she would change that name because of her sister. She told me she did when I first met her. Are you all ready?"

As we nodded, the room began to blur and we saw a faint copy of ourselves in passing. I felt better knowing we would be going back, but I still felt apprehensive about what lie ahead for us.

The room refocused and yet looked different. A beautiful phoenix stared curiously at us from its perch and a slightly younger Headmaster Dumbledore sat at the desk frowning intensely at a scroll. He jumped slightly and gaped at us.

"Hello Headmaster," I smiled, feeling like I should take the lead. "I'm Wren, and we're here to help."


	3. Harry's Closest Friends

_Dear Diary,_

_ Well, it took three hours to talk to Dumbledore, and we're basically where we were. We don't know what's being planned, we don't have our story straight of where we came from, and the school term hasn't even started. The last point is moot, the train arrives today. I wonder what Mum looks like in this time. I hope that I'm not enough like her to look like a twin...eww. Bad thought. If Mum and Dad fell in love...and I look like Mum...eww! No, they fell in love after school; actually, to hear them tell it, they fell in love after they were married. What would it really hurt to change that? What would it hurt to change anything? I know I shouldn't wonder these things, but I can't help myself. There's another thing I wonder, but I doubt he's noticed._

I can tell you, it wasn't easy sitting at the Gryffindor table watching people I only knew as adults file in. I recognized their faces and marveled at the minor differences between this now and _my_ now. I found myself grasping Etta's hand in an attempt to calm my nerves, and she gripped mine in return hard enough to turn both our knuckles white. David looked across the table at us and grinned.

"I can't wait to see Dad. Mum said he was a dork in high school but she thought that was cute."

"Speaking of cute, you guys better be careful talking to her, or _he_ might get jealous," Etta whispered the last part as people gathered in around us.

"I'm Colin Creevey," the boy next to me introduced himself. "Who are you?"

I forced my giggles to die. The boy in front of me was going to edit the Daily Prophet! "I'm Wren Emerald and this is my cousin, Etta Freeman. We just moved here."

"That's my brother, about four down on the left. He sat down there so he can see how Harry's doing."

"Harry Potter?" Pat interjected. I shot him a quelling look; Pat viewed this time as a military mission. If he didn't relax, I was going to slap him.

"Yeah. You've heard of him?"

"Colin, these are our friends, Pat and David Oliver. They moved about the same time we did. Pat's big on becoming an auror."

Colin nodded. "Who isn't right now? We all want to beat You Know Who, don't we?"

"Ginny!" a tall redhead shouted, standing up quickly.

"That's Ron Weasley, he's a great strategist," Colin explained, following our gazes. I felt Etta's grip tighten. "He's also one of Harry's best friends."

"Who's the other?" David asked, managing to sound politely interested.

"Others, I guess," Colin said, kind of wistfully. "I used to think his best friends were Hermione Granger, and Ron. Now I guess he's added Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood; that's who went with him to the...well."

He stopped suddenly, and looked uncomfortable.

"He's got a big group of good friends, then," Etta managed.

I nodded grimly. Now we knew who to make friends with.


	4. Plan in Motion

_Dear Diary,_

_ The four of us have been watching our parents for almost 2 weeks. At this point, I'm going to just have to force an introduction as they are far too engrossed with Voldemort to even notice any new people. I'll figure out a good excuse & bump into one of them. I just wonder which one is the best choice. Dad and Uncle Ron are out…they're too suspicious. Mum's no good…I don't want people to see us together just yet. Aunt Hermione's just too smart…Luna is a possibility, but she's in a different house. Hmmm…I guess that leaves one person—_

"This is a bad idea, Wren," Pat warned as I hugged a big stack of herbology books.

I rolled my eyes in return. "No, this is a great idea. At least, it _is_ an idea. The rest of you seem content to just sit around and do homework we'll have to turn around and do again when we return."

"It will be easier to do the work this way."

Exasperation punctuated my sigh. "I don't care about homework, Pat. I know you have a one-track mind, but I don't. I'm trying to figure out six different plans of attack, while the rest of you are trying to figure out what to do when we get done. You know, Etta and David think this idea will work."

"Well, if _David_ thinks it's a good idea…" Pat muttered darkly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I snapped.

"Nothing."

I stopped dead in the hallway and glared at Pat, who happily glared back at me. I would have argued the point further, but just then Neville Longbottom came around the corner.

"If you don't like it, then leave me alone," I hissed at Pat before stalking away-and running straight into Neville.

"Sorry," he immediately apologized as we fell in a pile of books.

"No, it's my fault," I replied, which oddly earned me a surprised glance. "I should have been watching where I was going instead of arguing with Pat."

I adjusted my glasses; silver ovals with clear lenses that Headmaster Dumbledore made to separate me from my mother. Neville smiled.

"You look familiar," he informed me. "Do I know you?"

I held out my hand. Wren Emerald, I'm new this year."

"Neville Longbottom," he returned, shaking my hand and gathering my books. "You like Herbology?"

I shook my head. "I'm no good with magical plants, I think I have a black thumb. I'm better with magical creatures. There's a class I'm good at."

We finished stacking the books and stood. I saw Pat stomp away toward Gryffindor tower and sighed. Nothing to do but march on.

"I'm sure I'm never going to pass this class."

Neville laughed and walked with me after Pat up the halls.

"Hey, I passed. I can help you. Herbology is my specialty."

"Thanks," I thanked him genuinely. It crossed my mind that he was going to be a magical researcher finding new uses for magical plants in potion work. His help in Herbology would really be useful. "Any other subjects you could tutor me on?"

Neville grinned wryly. "Not exactly. If you need a tutor, you should meet my friend, Hermione Granger. She's just about the smartest witch in the school."

"I've heard of her," I admitted as we neared the portrait. "I haven't had a chance to meet her yet. Is she the red-head?"

"No, that's Ginny Weasley. Hermione's the one with the bushy brown hair."

"Oh," I nodded. "So who's Ginny?"

It felt so strange to be playing this part, asking about my mum like she was a stranger. I knew I had to though. It was the only way to get into that closed circle.

"Well…you know who Harry Potter is, right?" Neville asked. At my nod, he continued, "His best friend is Ron Weasley and Ginny is Ron's sister."

"Password?" the fat lady demanded.

"Aphrodite," Neville said without thinking about it. "You should meet them."

"Oh, I'm really very shy," I begged.

"Don't worry. I promise not to let them hurt you."

I really wasn't prepared for introductions so quickly, but Neville dragged me toward the fire where the four other Gryffindors sat quietly.

"Hey guys, this is my new friend, Wren. She just moved here and I just ran over her in the hall."

I held my breath as the four most important people in my life stood and stared at me. They may have been twenty-two years younger, but they were still Mum, Dad, Uncle Ron, and Aunt Hermione. I forced a smile and waved.

"Hi."

_(A/N: just so confusion is somewhat allayed, Wren's age originally was 13, but I changed it after it occurred to me that a 13 year old and a 16 year old would not just hang out in a war. Wren needed to be closer to Ginny's age for the story to work.)_


End file.
